Corn, Corn, and More Corn

Days 31 – 36, Wisconsin – Colorado

Yesterday we left beautiful Michigan with a pang of longing and lots of memories.  Bob grew up there and enjoyed attending his 50^th class reunion and visiting with his brother and many friends, and also enjoyed being back in the area.  After 35 years of marriage, I have come to enjoy and appreciate how pretty MI is, or at least in the spring, summer, or fall.  I’ve never visited in the winter and I’m always aware that it must be a bit difficult to get around there during the winter.  But the same can be said for most of the northern states, so I am appreciative of the beautiful autumn weather and the tinges of color we are beginning to see in the heavily forested areas of Michigan.

 

Fall colors in MI

Leaving MI, we drive 197 miles across the Upper Peninsula from the Mackinaw Bridge at St. Ignace to Marinette, Wisconsin.  This is US-2, and it wraps around the northern bounds of Lake Michigan.  Years ago, we traveled this route in reverse when we had visited beautiful Door County, WI for business purposes and driven over to MI to visit family.  It’s a pretty drive, and we remember how scenic Eastern WI is.  Again, we wish we were giving ourselves the time to go explore but we have a different path planned.

When I think of Wisconsin, two things come to mind: the Green Bay Packers and cheese.  Well, I’m not disappointed because both are everywhere. 

 

WI favorite team!

WI favorite food!

But also, WI is “America’s Dairyland” and the farms, red barns, and silos are beautiful.  However, I guess all the cows were in the barns while we were driving because we didn’t see many in the pastures.

Cow table?

I was very taken with WI; the hillsides and corn fields seem to roll-on forever and the small towns are charming and everything is well kept and makes a very strong favorable first impression.  Our daughter told us she has had many friends from WI and they are all some of the nicest people she has ever known; I believe her.

Our destination is just east of Madison, the state’s capital city, in the south-central part of the state.  We are going to Spring Green, WI where Frank Lloyd Wright was born and raised on a big farm just south of the village.  It later became his studio and summer home, Taliesin.  Bob is a huge fan of FLW, so it’s better if he describes his experience.

After checking in at the Visitor Center, we admired the many FLW gift items available for sale.  I simply love his design style. 
 

FLW Sculpture

We had signed up for the “Highlights Tour” which was a 2-hour, bus driven tour of both the Drafting School and the Taliesin residence.  The estate grounds were beautiful, consisting of about 600 acres of farmlands, ponds, Wright buildings and outbuildings.  The drafting studio was built in 1903 and looked like something from 1960; he was way ahead of his time.

The thing I like about Wright’s buildings is that he designed everything inside and out to complement the primary structure including the bricks, windows, doors, furniture, curtains, built-ins, and design details.  Everything works together to provide an overall sense of superb design and creates a unique experience for all who visit the structures.

The Drafting School is still operating as an architectural school, where students can get a 2-year advanced degree, or just come for a 6-week intensive study in FLW’s design principles and approach.  We saw a couple of students working in the studio, even though it was a Friday. 

Drafting Studio

The main Taliesin residence was Wright’s personal home and is a very unique house.  We saw only a small part of the original building, which he expanded in stages over many years.  Again, everything inside was personally designed by Wright to complement the structure and the feeling he wanted visitors to have.  We were not allowed to photograph the interior areas as all the surfaces, decor, and furnishings are copyrighted.  He often used the principle of compression and expansion, moving people from rooms of very low heights (6-1/2 ft) into rooms with high peaked ceilings. 

Main House, different levels

The word Taliesin is Welsh for “shining brow” and is appropriate since the main house is built into the brow of a large hill overlooking the farm.  There are stunning views from many rooms of the house, gardens, yard and farm, including corn fields.  After the tour, we enjoyed a light lunch at the café in the visitor center, and a nice view of the valley.

Shining Brow

Corn fields and valley

I agree with Bob’s summation about Taliesin; it was beautiful and a very informative visit.  Leaving central WI, we crossed the mighty Mississippi and headed across southern MN.  Again, the farmlands seemed to extend forever, and despite merely driving on I-90 and not exploring the area we enjoyed seeing this part of America’s Heartland.  Early in the morning there was a band of fog above the farmlands and the sunrise tinged everything purple; truly, America the Beautiful.

Early Morning Fog in MN

MN farmland

Our initial plan was to proceed directly west across MN to visit the Black Hills, SD.  My grandparents lived in Spearfish and I have a lot of pleasant memories of visiting the area and wanted to revisit.  However, a sense of family responsibility was tugging at us.  When we started this journey, over a month ago, my Aunt passed away.  Sadly, she had no immediate family and the task of cleaning out her home had fallen to my siblings in Colorado.  After consulting with them we offered to return to CO to help and they welcomed the extra hands.

MN Corn Field

So, mid-way across MN we headed south through Iowa to Des Moines, westward across IA, and across Nebraska to Ogallala.  It was a very long day of driving and yes; there were a lot of fields of corn.  Corn was everywhere, and actually we had seen the fields in WI and MN, as well as across IA and NE. 

Iowa Corn Fields

Iowa Wind Farm

I am reminded of the sign in Kansas, on our eastward journey across the Mid-West, that said “We Feed America.”  But I find myself wondering what does America do with all this corn?  It’s everywhere!

Thanks to Google, I found an interesting article (2013) answering my questions about how America uses its massive corn crop.  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/time-to-rethink-corn/

Accordingly, much of America’s high yield corn crop is used for biofuels and animal feed, and only a small amount of the nation’s crop is actually corn on our tables and that is generally in the form of controversial high fructose corn syrup.  Interesting.

We crossed the Missouri River from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Omaha, Nebraska.  I was very curious about Omaha; I like Warren Buffet and he continues to call it home. 

Missouri River

 I’d like to say that the towns of NE ticked by quickly as we traveled west . . . however, the state is very flat and it seemed to take forever to get across the prairie from Omaha, to Lincoln (state Capital), Kearney, North

Omaha, NE

Platte, and finally to Ogallala where we stayed the night.  I grew up in neighboring Colorado so the NE town names were familiar to me but this was my first time to visit. 

Corn across Nebraska

Again, we should have taken the time to explore but now we were on a mission to return to Colorado to be helpful to my family.  We remind ourselves that this entire trip we have been calling the “family and friends” road trip because our goal was to visit with those we consider dear to our hearts and see the central US states.  We have been blessed throughout the trip!

The homeward stretch from Ogallala to my brother’s place outside Parker, CO should only take slightly over 3 hours of wide open driving so we start out early knowing we can be helpful once we get there.  After about half an hour we are in Colorful Colorado and again, I feel my roots. 

We stop at a rest stop at Sterling (same football league as my high school, the mighty Lambkins!) and we encounter our second blip of the entire trip of nearly 6000 miles.  You might recall I was sick while in TN and needed to see a doctor; that was the first blip.  But this is far more important . . . Bob realizes his cell phone is at the motel in Ogallala, NE.  Of course we have to turn around and go back 89 miles!   

Colorado also grows corn.  I guess it was planted later than the crops in the mid-west because the stocks were still green and the corn was on the husks.  I’m guessing these crops are raised more for silage or biofuels than they are a food crop.  We also start seeing more fields of hay and wheat in NE Colorado.

Mountains & Corn

Hay field rolled

More Corn!

We both felt good about our decision to return to CO to lend a helping hand to my siblings.  While we have been traveling across America enjoying ourselves, my family has been dealing with the emotional and physical tasks of losing a loved one.  I loved my Aunt also, and returning to CO for a couple days of sorting and cleaning out her house is a small contribution.  My heart feels lighter and I’m thankful that Bob is willing to change our plans and remember that our mission for this trip was all about family and friends